


Relinquished Hearts

by thefallfiles



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Drama & Romance, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Mild Gore, i mean come on it's the end of the world, there will be smut and a rating change soon, they're badass and regina has a katana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:48:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22593544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefallfiles/pseuds/thefallfiles
Summary: Emma Swan - leader, survivor finds Regina Mills in an abandoned fire station 6 months after the start of an apocalyptic zombie outbreak.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Emma Swan, Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	Relinquished Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> a/n Covert Operations will be updated within the next 48-72 hours.  
> I've been binge-watching The Walking Dead with my girlfriend, blame that gut-wrenching show for this.

The streets were dusty and blood soaked, littered with trash and decomposing bodies. The stench in the small town wasn't as overpowering as when she had been in Boston stepping over piles and piles of bodies. 

In a way it was almost a blessing.

The sun had set a few hours ago and Emma was on high-alert, making sure that nothing or nobody could jump out at her and take advantage - or kill her.

The blonde kept to the edge of the buildings with her crossbow raised, the weight of it causing her biceps to bulge slightly.

Every car Emma passed seemed to have been ransacked, contents spilled everywhere, she shook her head and kept her eyes peeled.

Finally, the blonde found herself outside Storybrooke Fire Station. The building was standing proudly; it looked almost impenetrable with it's heady brick walls and double paned glass windows covered with wooden planks.

Emma made her way around the side of the building looking for a vulnerable point, or a sign of life. She looked up to the second story and saw a curtain blowing in the wind, the window wide open. 

_Jackpot._

Walking closer to the wall, she stumbled over something and felt as though her heart jumped into her throat, swinging the crossbow down ready to defend herself.

A lone teddy bear missing an eye looked up at her sadly, other than some dirt it seemed wholly intact. She slung her crossbow across her back, secure in place by the back-strap, Emma didn't know why but she felt the need to pick it up and so she did; securely strapping it to her back pack with some loose rope she had before she made her way towards a fire-escape ladder. 

It wasn't directly above the window but Emma was sure from the angle beneath it that she could jump onto the window ledge of the closed window beneath it and pull herself up to the open window.

Possibly.

Her calves strained from the climb, she had been on the road for 3 days without a break and she really needed a rest. And some food. From the look of this place, Emma was thinking maybe luck finally had turned her way for once.

Leather boots dropping down onto the carpet made a soft thud and she raised her crossbow once again, once could never be too careful-

"Shit!" Emma dropped to the floor.

Metal connected with the wooden window frame and Emma looked up from the floor, her hands flinging above her forehead in a show of mercy.

"Who are you?!" The figure demanded, a hood covering their face.

Emma's eyes widened, the person then tugged at the sword and the blonde realised this was her chance, the metal stuck in the wood from the force of the swing.

The blonde projected herself at the mysterious figure, bowling them off their feet and onto their back with a loud exhale, the wind knocked from their lungs. She held the crossbow at their face and reached for the hood.

"Mummy?" A quiet voice spoke from the doorway.

Emma's eyes snapped up briefly towards the voice and her breath hitched in her throat. A boy, possibly 8 or 10 stood there with a gun in his hands, the steel shaking in his clammy little hands with tears in his eyes.

Emma jumped off of the figure - _woman_ and held her hands up towards the nervous little boy, her heart beating erratically.

"Hey, hey there. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt your mum."

The woman was as fast as a panther, moving from underneath the blonde and running to the little boy's side, grabbing the gun from him and pointing it at Emma.

"Don't move." She hissed.

The hood had fallen down and _oh wow, she's breathtaking,_ Emma thought, having to fight against her heart thudding steadily faster and faster just from looking at this woman's face.

"Okay- Okay. I understand. Look, I was trying to find a place to crash and eat. I know that this place is occupied now, so I'll just go."

The brunette's hands were shaking, it was obvious she had not had a lot of opportunities to use it. Emma's eyes strayed from the dark, messy waves to her dirty white blouse, accessing her.

She started to walk closer and Regina raised the gun higher, hands shaking even harder when she saw the younger woman move further away from the window. Her finger on the trigger slipping, palms sweaty.

In a quick motion, Emma wrestled the gun from the brunette and tucked it into her back pocket.

"Safety was on."

The woman deflated and her eyes were wide and watery.

"Please, just leave us. We just want to be left alone."

The woman was pleading with Emma but her tone was firm, trying to hold onto some semblance of authority even though in this moment she had none.

Emma moved closer once again, the brunette's fingers clutched tighter at the boys shoulders but she didn't move, the blonde squatted down in front of him.

"Do you like teddy bears?" Emma asked, a small smile appearing on rose lips.

The young boy looked up at the brunette as though asking permission, when all she did was stare back down at him confusedly, he looked back at the blonde stranger and nodded silently.

"Me too. I found this guy outside all by himself and I remembered when I was scared around your age I would tell him everything that I was feeling and he looked after me. Cool, huh?"

The boy furrowed a quizzical brow but didn't say anything further, Emma moved back and put her bag down on the floor before untying the bear and holding it out to him.

"What do you say, truce?" She said softly, sea green eyes kind as they moved from the boy to the older woman now looking at her with curious, softer eyes.

He took the bear and held it tight across his chest with both arms and Emma cleared her throat before standing up and putting her bag back on her back.

"I guess I'll be on my way, then."

The blonde fumbled a bit before handing the woman the gun back and their fingers brushed gently, Emma swore she felt electricity run from the top of her head down to her fingertips and toes. The brunette gasped.

Emma turned around back towards the window and took a few steps before -

"Wait." 

A pause. 

Emma turned around to see the brunette lean down the the boy and whisper something in his ear and he shook his head until dark brown eyes stared him down and he grumbled under his breath before walking out of the room.

Emma watched as the woman took a few tentative steps towards the blonde, wringing her hands nervously now that the gun was securely placed in her pocket. 

The blonde didn't know what to expect from those curious dark eyes roaming her face, her heart thudded faster and faster inside her chest.

"Stay." She said, "For dinner."

Emma's forehead creased. The woman tried to kill her and now she wants her to stay for dinner?

"You didn't have to do that...and it has been a long time since we've had company. We have plenty of food."

"Just like that?" Emma asked, confused.

A small smile twitched at the corner of the other woman's mouth and she hesitated before gesturing at Emma.

"I'll need you to hand over your weapons while you're here I can't risk anything happening to Henry."

The brunette slapped a hand over her mouth as though she had revealed the layout to the White House and scrunched her eyes shut.

"You have to keep him safe," Emma nodded, understanding, "I could go for some food." She grinned as her stomach grumbled.

The other woman nodded, immediately relaxing at the blonde's co-operation as Emma handed over her crossbow.

"Turn towards the wall."

Emma did as she was told, moving to place her hands against the wall of the bedroom and breathed out a shaky breath when hands started to graze her sides, patting down her pockets in a search for weapons.

Heat flared between her thighs and she looked downward cursing herself silently for her body’s completely impetuous reactions. _Worst timing ever_.

"Well, I haven't been in this kind of position in a long while." Emma quipped.

The brunette huffed a laugh despite herself, moving to stand back up and tapping the blonde on the back of the shoulder.

"All done."

Green eyes met cobalt brown and Emma swore she could feel that same electric current running through her veins. 

"Regina Mills." 

The woman held out her hand, her gaze unrelenting and the blonde smiled softly, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

"Emma. Emma Swan." She replied, shaking the older woman's hand.

It was over all too soon for Emma's liking, the soft caress of the woman's skin was brief and it reminded her that it had been way too long since she'd felt the touch of another human being.

The older woman went back towards the window and after a few attempts finally got her Katana sword loose and placed it in the sword case over her shoulder.

"Follow me, Em- _ma_."

And yep, the blonde knew already that this was the beginning of an adventure she wasn't going to be forgetting any time soon and one that would completely change her life.

* * *

The blonde followed Regina out of the bedroom and down the hall, Emma hadn’t had a chance to be inside a fire station before now and it was spacious, the perfect place to settle down during this trying time.

There were a few candles lit inside and Regina turned to look over her shoulder to make sure Emma hadn’t wandered off or was getting up to no good, she fell back until she was in pace with the younger woman. She followed the blonde’s gaze and answered the unspoken question.

“There is a generator but we don’t use it at night as we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.” Regina said.

“A generator, huh? I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.” Emma commented.

Regina led her through to the living area where Henry was settled on the couch with a dusty book and the bear in the crook of his elbow. 

She stopped in the doorway for a moment as she saw that he was engrossed in the pages of the book.

“It’s starting to run low on gas, we’ve gone through a handful already, I have no idea what we’re going to do then. Move on, somewhere.”

Emma shoved her hands into her back pockets and scuffed her boot against the carpet.

“It’s not much better out there.” The blonde commented, “Supplies are scarce.”

Regina sighed, folding her arms and rocking back on her heels. She knew that, of course she did. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t holding out hope that something would change - after all this time a stranger, a kind stranger, had appeared and maybe, just maybe their luck was changing after all.

Either that or God had a sick sense of humour.

Pushing off the entryway, Regina gestured to the room and Henry looked up at the movement. His brow furrowed when he saw Emma but didn’t say anything, when the blonde gave him a wide toothy grin, only then did he return a small one of his own.

“We spend most of our time in the living room. It’s up high away from The Wanderers and close to the kitchen and bathrooms.”

Emma’s eyes found Regina again, sweeping along her lithe figure as she gestured to areas of the house, now following her into the kitchen.

“Wanderers, huh? Is that what you call them?” Emma asked, settling down on a steel stool in front of the kitchen island.

Regina’s dark eyes clouded over for a moment as she looked at the entrance to the kitchen from where she stood leaning against the counter top, making sure that Henry hadn’t sneakily followed them to the kitchen.

“We- _I_ use that instead of-”

“Zombies?” Emma answered for her.

The older woman huffed an exasperated laugh, meeting emerald eyes for a moment before she answered.

“It seems crazy, doesn’t it?” She said quietly, shocked at how easy she found it to talk to this stranger.

Regina wasn’t sure whether it was because she hadn’t spoken to another adult in so long that she craved that connection, or whether she could actually _feel_ something here.

Emma gazed back into those dark brown orbs, undismayed by the series of events that had happened mere moments before.

Something just felt _right._ Her gut knew it too. It was easy to talk to her, to gaze into her eyes, to be around her. But she didn’t know this woman and Emma’s guard was up, wavering, but still up. She didn’t know if she’d let it down anytime soon, all that she knew was that this was nice and it had been such a long time since she’d felt anything close to nice.

“Yeah...yeah it does.”

Regina gazed at her for a moment longer before clearing her throat and reaching for her glasses on the quartz counter top. Once they were settled on the bridge of her nose Emma noticed that the left glass had a crack through it and the blonde wondered if it happened before all of this.

“So, tell me Miss Swan...what is your go to canned goods, these days?”

Emma laughed and she couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed this much and she realised that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she stayed here. Maybe there were still good moments to come in this world. Maybe it wouldn’t always be darkness and death and decay. Perhaps Henry and Regina were just as lonely as she was, not realising they needed and craved that human interaction and affection just as she did.

Maybe she could stay.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?


End file.
